It’s been a while since the Colorado leader Guzmán Acosta and Lara wanted to shake hands with the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, to tell him that he had “open doors” of the collective founded by Fructuoso Rivera in the event that José Mujica’s former foreign minister executes in the future his intention to participate and return to politics in Uruguay.
That meeting took place this Saturday at Almagro’s residence in Washington. For nearly an hour, the general secretary and the Colorado who is director of Telecommunications and Audiovisual Services of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining spoke about the importance of the original Batllismo and the need to build a “new batllismo” to become strong within the red ranks. “We have many coincidences in the way we see politics, in thinking about the future, as well as in the need to generate renewal”Acosta and Lara told The Observer.
The Colorado leader, who has been very close to the former president Julio Maria Sanguinettifounded in March Wind of changea new sector made up of several young people who bet on renew leadership and ideas within the party. “It is a group without labels and that looks to the future”summed up Acosta and Lara.
It is not the first time that there have been contacts between Colorado leaders and Almagro, who has declared himself an admirer of the thought and action of José Batlle y Ordóñez as well as a genuine product of Batllista Uruguay.
In the book Luis Almagro does not apologize (Planeta, 2020), by journalists Gonzalo Ferreira and Martín Natalevich, Almagro said that his wish was to return to Uruguay when his second term ends in 2025 and that his will is to play politics until the last of his days. He also said that he felt “absolutely Batllista.”
“Probably the most in this world I am a Batllista (…) In the place that I would feel more comfortable is in Batllismo. In a much more traditional Batllismo. A Batllismo more of Viva Batlle than the later variables,” he said in interviews for the aforementioned book.
His winks towards Batllismo had become evident in June 2020 when he closed a cycle of videoconferences organized by the center-left Colorado youth group Por el Porvenir with a “Long live Brum! Long live Domingo Arena! Long live Batlle”.
Who moderated that talk was Ramiro Tafernaberry, one of the young figures of the party, who was the facilitator of the meeting between this Saturday between Almagro and Acosta and Lara. The Secretary General of the OAS has maintained relatively fluid contact with several young Colorados and has expressed interest in helping the new generations, when he no longer has the inhibitions that his current position generates.
In the dialogue with Acosta and Lara, Almagro asked him how he saw Uruguay and showed his interest in the country’s future. Both exchanged on the dangers for democracy in the hemisphere, as well as the importance of strengthening institutions and political dialogue.
The Colorado leader said that he left the meeting “very satisfied.” “We are going to keep in touch,” concluded Acosta and Lara.
